Modern Vespa

We had a male cat for 18 years that walked on a leash (much like a dog) since he was a kitten. He was an indoor cat only but loved to hang out outside with us along with friends/neighbors on his leash and HAD to go for a walk daily-weather permitting. One time we were about an 1/8-1/4 mile away from the house. He turned and pulled me to a run to go home so he could go downstairs to his litter box and pee!!! I could not believe his dedication! Never, ever, went outside the box- even on his last day. Brilliant cat!!

Bob

GRRRRR, THIS!

Our 11 and 15-year-old love to play Creativerse (a Minecraft knockoff) on Steam with me. I've built a ton of castles, villages, treehouses, underground hideouts, material stashes, and even Frank Lloyd Write's Falling Waters for them to explore. I love customizing the builds to fit their personalities. I built my daughter a purple and pink floating sky castle with a secret under-castle hideaway, and a lair for my son deep underground made of diamonds with lava rivers running through it.

Last month it underwent a major overhaul which gives me a limited window to download our world from the servers, but the game won't launch due to an Electron.app missing error. I come to find out that the makers of Creativerse have eliminated Mac OS support. All 784 of my build hours + the cost of the game & DLC X 3, has gone to waste.

Now their PCs say Creativerse can't verify the login even though Steam did. I think we'll give up and bake some cloudy-day cookies to cheer us up.

Don't know if it will help, but I just installed Windows 11 through Parallels on my MacBook Pro for some Windows only software I needed to use. There are also some "free" options out there.

I don't have a lot of time in yet, but it seems to run really well. Not sure how gaming would perform.

Tyre supply issues. I can't get Bridgestones or Michelins so it's going to have to be Metzelers for the BMW.

Not a fan of the Pirellis on the Guzzi so I want to switch to Avons. Can I get hold of them ? Of course not.

Just... virtually everyone I have to interact with in the medical world. Right now, I'm having to keep tabs on and follow up with multiple people that simply won't do their jobs in a timely manner, if they do at all. I've been trying to get one specific situation taken care of for at least 6 months.

I even called up my insurance company to see if they had patient advocates. I literally just need someone with the authority to bitch at people to keep things moving. I was referred to a case manager who was very nice. But all she did was inform me of the things I needed to do on my end... which I've already gone above and beyond with, months ago.

Yeah, yeah, stuff with insurance takes time, I get that--but we haven't even gotten to the point of sending anything to insurance for approval yet!

I don't understand why it's so damned difficult for someone to send files and reports to someone else. I do all the work I can for them. I tell them exactly what needs to go where, I give them every possible bit of contact info they could ever need for it, I call them at least once a week if not more. Occasionally, I get a message saying it's done. When I check the other end to verify, it's never. Actually. Fucking. Done.

It's to the point I need to go doctor-hopping, but everyone in the area is booked 6 months out. If I could, I'd literally take an entire day to go to each office involved, and stage a sit-in until they get my shit and physically hand it to me, so I can eliminate the variable of, "Oh, we totally sent it, maybe something happened if they say they didn't get it." No. No more BS.

Winter term starts tomorrow at my school, and I've got a pretty full load, so I won't be able to harp on these people as much for a while. Augh.

That sucks, GG. You spend hours of hours doing something, only to learn the don't need/want/support/care about it anymore. Need a PC? I have a Surface Pro 3 you could borrow.

Thank you, you are so sweet!

My mid-'12 Macbook Pro isn't up to the task of making our club videos. Maybe I'll start shopping for a deal.

Last summer my dealer could not get the Michelins or Dunlops. He ended up getting a set of Shinkos which were doing great until I ran over a screw after only 500 miles🤬. I had to wait 7 weeks to get those! It's sitting in the garage with a flat... I'll address this in the spring.

Bob

My wife just lost her job. Not sure why yet. She texted me a pic of the "Separation Agreement" and said she was packing up her office.

There has been management changes at her work over the last 3-9 months, and she was part of the team that the previous management had hired, so that's probably part of it.

I just checked our finances, and we can handle pretty much all of them on my salary, for now.

EDIT:

She called when she was on her way home.

She was told that "they're going in a different direction" and that "her services are no longer required."

They are paying her accrued vacation hours (28 hours/3.5 days), as well as 12 weeks of severance pay.

What sucks is that she works for a church, so she's not sure if she'll qualify for unemployment compensation. She's going to apply, figuring the worst thing that'll happen is the state says no.

Last edited by monogodo on Mon, 09 Jan 2023 21:27:52 +0000; edited 1 time

Sorry to hear that, mono. Losing a job is hard. Be nice to her.

I got my first flat tire in a handful of years last autumn (2021)...on a rear Pirelli Scorpion Trail 2 weeks after it was installed. I decided to get some practice with the tire repair mushroom plug kit and would only replace the tire if the plug wasn't 100%. A month later, I picked up ANOTHER screw. Two plugs in a tire that didn't even have 1000 miles on it. I rode it down to the wear bars...12,113 miles on pavement and gravel roads and the 2 plugs worked flawlessly.
I'm actually running Shinkos now (Pirelli tires are expensive!) and wouldn't hesitate to plug a leak again if, knock on wood, I was unfortunate enough to pick up a screw or nail.

What's pissing me off? Automotive shops that (supposedly) do state vehicle inspections.
"Oh...we don't do motorcycles."
Why not? It's just a vehicle.
"We just don't want to."

Thanks, jerks. I guess I'm not renewing my vehicle registration and getting my license plate sticker today. Now I get to figure out if I can deal with registration and taxes in another city or if I have to circle back to the county I'm using as my address in a few weeks when I finish up with the dentist.

Root canals and crowns are also pissing me off, but it's mostly because of what they charge for them.

As above, just plug it! Personally I use the sticky string ones.

Won't go in to too many details here but my FIL went in to the hospital on the 23rd after falling. Turns out he had covid after the home kept it our right up until about 2 months ago. It ran through the entire facility. Her mom who has dementia was stuck in the appt. My spouse had to call her mom every day to say her dad was not "gone" but in the hospital .

So below is a few text excerpts between me and a close friend from earlier today.


Her dad has a "bacterial infection" in his urine so has been moved to a covid ward. How the f**k that is transmutable is beyond me. Now her mom can't visit and she was going tomorrow after renting a car again to take mom to visit dad. Bad enough they kept him in a room with a violent patient that had to be strapped down. The way we treat our elderly is disgusting. I get "it" the pandemic wore them down but man… The hits keep on coming. Sorry, just venting again.

My friend said he hopes the violent patient was sedated. My response is below.

Probably was as well. The hospital staff said "don't worry about it" and would not move the patient to another room. So no worries there now as her dad is back on the Covid ward though he has no covid. So no visitors …

As much as the Canadian health system is not complete crap it isn't exactly all that either. I can only hope for the best. FWIW I said I'm absolutely fine if her mother lives with us when we move to the island. Not happening while her dad is still with us and I really hope that is for a while yet.

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Here's a pic. This is my first ever flat. I was under the assumption that they couldn't be fixed.

Bob

Definitely plug-able.

As Jess says : pluggable.

Twice I've had tires plugged by the tire shop. Mushroom shaped plugs installed from the inside.

I like the idea of those, and I have the equipment to install them (from the outside), but I've never managed to get them to seal. They always seem to leak. I think you really need an ideal hole for them to work right.

The gooey string stuff just plugs whatever shape hole you happen to have.

AT&T.

We lost power last night (which was not AT&T's fault) and in the darkness of morning, I thought it would be a good idea to activate the personal hotspot on my phone, only to be told that I have to call AT&T or visit their website to activate it.

Okay, so I tried to visit the website.

Problem Number 1: All I have available in a power outage is cellular data, through (you guessed it) AT&T. And the AT&T cellular coverage in my neighborhood is crap -- we live in a dead spot that AT&T has been unable to remedy in the decade that we've lived here.

Problem Number 2: The AT&T website is the very worst professionally-run website on the internet. Of this I am sure. If you've ever used it, you know of what I speak. If you have never used it, count yourselves lucky. The dysfunction of the underlying organization that runs it is clearly on display.

Problem Number 3: The AT&T website repeatedly gives me random errors trying to load random pages, all while I search around trying to figure out how to change my plan to support a personal hotspot. Nevermind the fact that I've used a personal hotspot on AT&T before, and I am mystified why my current plan doesn't support it, especially given the extortionate amount of money I pay to AT&T every month.

So after about 45 minutes of flailing on their website, I decide maybe I will take the alternate path and call them.

This went about as well. The agent I got asked me for my social security number, and then when I objected said he just wanted my phone number. Then he wanted my account number, which I told him I could not give him because I cannot log into my account, to which he replied that he just wanted my PIN code for my account.

After some yelling (entirely on my part) we finally agreed that I would upgrade my plan to support the personal hotspot feature, and it would only cost me an extra $30 per month! Such a deal.



So after several dropped phone calls (crappy AT&T coverage) I finally told him to set it up. He told me I would just need to turn off my phone and turn it on again, and everything would be fine.

When I restarted my phone, not only did I not have a personal hotspot, but now I had no cellular data at all. Zero. And initially I didn't even have any voice capability either, though that reappeared after a few minutes.

So I called AT&T again. And spent another hour on the phone with two more agents. At least these two were somewhat helpful and didn't ask me for my social security number.

While on the phone with these two agents, power came back on (of course) and eventually the phones started getting cellular data again as well (of course) while they were still troubleshooting. And then the personal hotspot feature started working again too.

So now that the power is on, I don't really need a personal hotspot, but at least I am paying $30 more per month for crappy cellular coverage.

That's your first problem.

When we moved to Arizona 20 years ago, we switched from AT&T to Verizon and couldn't be happier. My husband used to travel every other week to various states, and Verizon was always good. AT&T, not so much. Of course, YMMV.

Moved across country and shipped my bikes. They were "supposed" to be picked up by the 18th of Dec and delivered by the 3rd of January. They were just picked up yesterday. They now tell me they will be in one warehouse in Vegas for a while, then shipped to another warehouse in Oklahoma. It probably won't even be early Feb before I even get them. I am beyond pissed. Plus the weather here is 60-70s....

Tidwillow,

Sorry about your situation. Especially since you have good weather to
ride in.

I was involved in shipping my scooter to California last year. The best
cost movers had that same format. They only pick up and deliver when
they are going your way - meanwhile your scooter is staged awaiting a
van headed in your direction.

This works if you are open for a long wait on delivery. I expect if you
paid three times as much you could get it delivered quick.

Hey, maybe you will get lucky and the scoots will come in earlier.

Best of luck,

Bob Copeland

Doing a healthy thing and getting blister should be illegal. I don't need the discouragement


(Gardening)

Damn Elton John. I'm 1.5km in a straight line away from him and it's impossible to watch my TV because he is so f'n loud 😡😤

Third, maybe fourth time now on the third bike and second dealership to do it: why on earth would a dealership return a bike to the owner with the tires inflated to 40psi both front and rear??

First time was the Vespa, then the Triumph, now the BMW. WTF?

Sorry to hear about your shipping problems. Curious where they are being shipped TO. I presume not Portland as we have not seen 60-70s in quite a while and the weather outside my window is rotten right now.

Last edited by Dooglas on Sat, 14 Jan 2023 19:56:27 +0000; edited 1 time

That's pretty much standard practice from dealers, in my experience.

Moved from Portland back to Louisiana. Just got an update today that my bikes just arrived at the warehouse in Oklahoma. Now just waiting on the route and 3 day lead in time. Chomping at the bit here waiting....

Reading the sidewall is easier than looking for the tag on the bike, checking the owner's manual, or looking it up online.

Having a single tire pressure setting as standard procedure for all service is even easier.

I rescued a real fat 12 y/old tortoiseshell that I helped get in great shape. First night with us crawled in the nook of my arm. He never did his business in anywhere other than his litterbox. Probably the kindest soul I have ever come across. He had eyes that held lots of pain but hope as well. Died of cancer about 1 1/5 years in. It was one of the hardest losses I have ever dealt with. R.I.P.Farley (for Chris Farley he was so big, lol).

See, what ticks me off about it, besides the danger of extremely overinflated tires from the dealership, is that the previous instances involved the same dealer staff that would try to scold me about proper tire inflation if my bike came in more than 1-2PSI out of spec.

Unless every party is measuring on completely bone-cold tires, I don't see these numbers being accurate.

All my numbers come from cold tires and the same digital gauge...mine. When shops are handing me tires with 40psi, those are either directly after changing to brand new tires or, most recently, a reading from a bike that had to be wheeled off the showroom onto the trailer.

Screw it. Believe me or don't.

Well, that's fair then. I see a lot of people freak out over PSI readings that are essentially bogus because of temperature, so thought I'd mention it.

This guy. And his brothers and sisters and uncles and aunts and cousins and second cousins and third cousins thrice removed and nephews and nieces and their kids too.

What is THAT? If it was Australia I'd assume it was deadly, but not so sure about the Hermit Kingdom.

For goodness sake, I hope you didn't kill him. God knows how many relatives will show up for the funeral.

And I be checking to see if he was carrying a syphon hose to steal you gas!

They can help themselves to the gas.

It's when I visit the bakery I get freaked out.

Pity you didn't have a visual as well, you missed Molly's sideshow

Well as long as the goodies from the bakery are cooked they should be nice and crunchy!